TRADEMARK rivalry between Apple Computers and Beatles company Apple Corps reemerged in court yesterday in a clash over the computer giant's iTunes online music store.

TRADEMARK rivalry between Apple Computers and Beatles company Apple Corps reemerged in court yesterday in a clash over the computer giant's iTunes online music store.

London-based Apple Corps, owned by Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the widows of John Lennon and George Harrison, is suing the United States computer company for allegedly breaching the terms of a 1991 peace pact signed after a long-running multi-million pound trademark war.

Apple Corps claims that the use of the Apple name and logo to promote music products through the iTunes facility -which enables computer users to download and save thousands of pre-recorded songs from the internet - is not allowed under the 1991 agreement.

At a preliminary hearing in the High Court in London, San Francisco-based Apple Computers asked Mr Justice Mann to rule that the case should be heard in California, where the courts are already dealing with the issues involved.

Apple Corps argues that the trial should be in Britain.

The hearing continues. The judge heard that, at present, iTunes was only available to Apple users in the US, but its introduction to Europe was imminent.